to give a shoutout to my friend Chris, who’s playing in the biggest Roller Rugby tournament in the world today. Wish him luck — it looks like things can get pretty crazy:

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Lovely Amphibian’s amazing round-up of the Ugandan blogosphere:

Intelligence. What you get when you read the Ugandan blogosphere. This motley crew is so funny, so witty, so neurotic, you can’t leave without being impacted. Every morning, I come here to read what others are thinking and I come away with an idea that I believe makes a difference. Man, they just too many…

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I got an e-mail today that I wanted to share with you all:

Hello there

I was searching for Aga Khan online and came across your website.

Forget Google Page Rank and Technorati — this is the true measure of blogebrity.

Let me introduce myself, my name is [redacted: I'm going to call him JoeBob] and I will be marrying an Ismaili woman come May 2007. I have courted her for over 7 years now.

JoeBob, I’m impressed. That right there is what we AgaKhanoholics call determination.

In that time, I have been witness (not personally, but heard) to many of the rituals that her family participate in their “jamat khana.”

I have had so many of my questions unanswered when I display a passing interest in the religion and Aga Khan in particular.

My questions mainly pertain to the money that is collected from all these “activities.” They have donation drives, and something called a partnership walk and many other “festivities” that I am undoubtedly unaware of.

The Ismailis get goosebumps whenever the Aga Khan’s name is mentioned.

So do I, my friend, so do I.

I just don’t get it. How can a “white” guy living in palaces in France be considered a Saviour of these predominantly Indian, Pakistani and African Ismaillis??

Islam forbids gambling on one hand and this Aga Khan has one of the worlds best collection of race horses. Isn’t that strange??

This and many other things, my inquisitive little darling.

Anyway, just wanted to thank you for your blog. I have bookmarked it and will read all your articles (specially ones on “Aggie” as you call him … funny as heck) with great interest.

Peace

You see, Internet?? This is what the “Aga Khan” does to “people” like me and JoeBob. We’re put in such a “state” of consternation that we start throwing punctuation around like it’s undoubtably “candy.” Why, Aggie, why?? When are you going to stop stroking your studs, move out of your French palaces and answer some of our many, many questions??

JoeBob, good luck with your upcoming marriage. If you ever want to guestblog about attempts to sneak into the jamat khana, let me know.

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A while ago I took a boda-boda from work back to my house. The driver recognized me and asked about my friend:

Me: Oh, he’s back in the States.

Driver: What?

Me: He went back home. To the U.S.

Driver: What?

Me: He left. He’s gone. In America.

Driver: What?

Me: His time here is finished.

Driver: Oh, sorry. My sister, she is also finished. In May.

Me: Finished? No, no, not like that. He’s not dead. He just went back home.

Driver: [Nodding head and clucking his tongue sympathetically] Yes, yes. Dead.

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In college I was what you might call “mildly obsessive” about campus politics. I ran for student government with a group called Delta Force, one of two student coalitions. We called ourselves activists, movers and creative thinkers. The other group, made up largely of fraternity and sorority members, called us hippies and losers.

Being a part of Delta Force involved wearing the same DF t-shirt for weeks on end, pulling three all-nighters in a row during the campaign, skipping class to convince strangers to vote for you, and, at the end, throwing a huge victory party that, despite the fact that only 15% of your candidates won, still rocked like mad.

Even though I’m a year removed from our last campaign, I still get all riled up when I talk about DF. I get sappy about little things, wax overly poetic about our victories and defeats, and find myself wanting to break my heart into little pieces so I can pass it around to the other members.

That’s kind of how I feel about you guys right now. Cheri wrote last week about the “journalists, graphics designers, software programmers, humanitarians, internet wizards or just loungers” who are all part of the Ugandan blogosphere, and Pernille talked recently about the various traits of Ugandan bloggers — caring, schizophrenic, spiced up, courageous and honest, to name a few.

I am thrilled and inspired (I told you I get all sappy…if I were giving a speech, this is when I’d start to cry) by this community, and I think you all deserve to be the blog equivalent of Student Body President.

Since that’s not really how we’re organized, though, you should check out the invitation to be part of a blogging documentary that Pernille posted on Sunday. A group of Danish students is coming here next month to learn about “Ugandans who blog, their reasons to do so, and what opportunities blogging can create for that person and/or Uganda.” They hope the film will help create a blog bridge between Denmark and Uganda.

If you want to be a part of the project, check out Learning by Blogging.

I’m going to go put on my Delta Force t-shirt and cry happy tears about the lovely, thoughtful, hilarious, raw, titilating things you all write.

XO,
Jackfruity

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